Supreme Court to hear objections of State FAs, FSDL and finalize draft constitution of AIFF on July 28

The Supreme Court will finalize the draft constitution of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), which has been framed by the Committee of Administrators (CoA), on an expeditious footing next Thursday, July 28.

The SC today asked all the involved parties to submit all their objections to the CoA counsel in a two-page report. The apex court will be hearing all objections on the next date.

The Supreme Court also underlined during the hearing that they will not interfere with the AIFF's commercial side.

In May, the highest judicial body ruled that a three-member CoA, comprising Justice (retired) Anil R Dave, former Chief Election Commissioner of India, Dr. SY Quraishi, and former India captain Bhaskar Ganguly, will run day-to-day affairs in Indian football, temporarily replacing the AIFF. The CoA chalked up a draft constitution following the ruling.

However, many state associations and Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) filed separate intervention applications in the apex court, questioning which among the I-League and ISL would be the country’s top-tier league going forward.

In the clause in the draft constitution by the CoA, it was mentioned that the country’s foremost men’s league will be run by the AIFF with promotion and relegation in place.

Given that the I-League is managed by the AIFF, the clause hinted at it becoming the top-tier league in the near future. The FSDL haven't taken to the suggestion well as their product -- the Indian Super League -- was accorded recognition as the top-tier league in October 2019 by the Asian Football Confederation.

But the court underlined that they will not be addressing the conflict regarding the Master Rights Agreement (MRA) as they are reluctant to get into the commercials of the sport. Once the constitution is finalized, the AIFF could go forward with the elections and inturn the democratically elected body will then handle the conflict.

"We don’t want to get in commercials of sport. Let a democratically elected body handle that. We won’t give a stamp to Mr Salve’s (who is representing FSDL) plans nor are we going to enter it," the bench stated.

Meanwhile, these are apprehensive days for the Indian football faithful as the threat of a FIFA ban looms large. The world football governing body had earlier mentioned that the AIFF elections should be conducted within September 15. Failing to do so would push India towards an imminent ban.